Finally
by Les Papillons
Summary: Ray and Lily are finally a couple but will it last? Are they ready to deal with the tests and challenges of being in a relationship? My first joint fic co-authored by RC14. R


**Disclaimer: Reviewchick14 and I are writing this story together so I don't own this chapter. Lizzy wrote it and I made a few changes to it but it is mostly her work. Neither of us owns RFR either. **

**A/N Morethenslightlyrfrobsessed: Heehee my first time doing a joint fan fic "Whooohoooo!!!" lol. Hope you appreciate our efforts. :D**

The words "I love you" echo throughout the crowd as Ray and Grace both stop in their tracks to look back at what they thought they had heard. Ray stands stunned and looks first in the direction of Lily's voice and then at Grace. He releases his grip on Grace's hand and she runs out the door unexpectedly. This leaves Ray torn between running after his girlfriend or waiting as his best friend, who he never really stopped loving, tries to get through the crowd.

Part of him wants to go after Grace. She is beautiful, smart, and really likes him. The kind of girl who any guy would want. Wasn't it too late for him to be with Lily?

The other side of him remembers the feelings for Lily that had never gone away. The ones that had snuck up on him at the beginning of 9th grade and progressed afterward. They hadn't been clicking as well since they discovered their shared feelings. Could they handle their friendship if he walked away now?

Ray stands still and knows that Grace is long gone. He makes a mental note to call and apologize if she'll pick up the phone later that night. It seems like he waits there forever as the humidity grows with the sticky sweat of over a hundred people within the atmosphere.

To Ray it felt as if time had stood still, yet it was still moving.

He took his eyes off the crowd for only a couple seconds and when he glanced back Lily's blonde hair could be seen just visibly before she sqeezed past the last few people seperating them from view.

When she finally was close enough to be seen Ray could see a hint of tears welling up on her eyelids. Where were they supposed to go from here? Was Ray supposed to say 'I love you too' and hold her in his arms? She had told him she wanted it simple so he didn't know if that meant kissing her passionately on the spot or becoming speechless while leading her out the door to go somewhere romantic.

He was too dazed to think it out, so the first logical movement that his brain move is what he went with. As soon as they both stepped forward enough to see the other's features Ray stared into Lily's now tear bearing eyes, reached a hand up near the side of her head, and kissed her like they had both been waiting for for a long time. Lily put her arms around Ray and gently kissed back. Neither of them payed attention to the crowd that stood a few feet away, which was too preoccupied to notice two people standing alone in the back anyway.

When they pulled away from their kiss both searched the other's eyes as if they were trying to find an answer there. Lily broke the gaze to wipe away the remaining tears that she had shed. Ray wanted to say I love you but he hoped that the kiss had shown it.

Ray finally mustered up the courage to speak.

"You want to go a...go somewhere else?," Ray muttered softly.

Lily had to listen carefully to understand each word.

She smiled and Ray took it as a positive answer. They each joined one of their hands together and walked out of the building. Ray was thinking at first that they should go to the station but then he decided on the observation deck. There was a chance Travis or Robbie would decide to go to the station and he wanted them to spend time alone. Most of Roscoe was at Sound Wave so it didn't seem like a very high possibility that someone was at the observation deck tonight.

When they arrived at their destination no one was there like Ray had suspected so he led them to a bench that was facing the same direction as the telescopes that were available there.

"Our we counting this as a real first date?," Ray asked curiously.

Lily looked over at him after taking a second to think about it.

"I guess so." Lily was glad that she was getting a chance with Ray. She still wondered about Grace though.

Ray replied as if he could read Lily's mind.

"I feel bad about doing this to Grace too."

"How did you know what I was thinking?!"

"It was obvious. Everything happend so fast you know. One second I am sharing my first kiss with Grace while you sing about moving on. The next we are in a hurry to leave and we think we hear you shouting at me. It's a lot to take in so quickly."

"I'm sorry about that. Parker warned me when I told her what I planned to do."

"You had it all planned out?"

"Originally we had rehearsed the song as "You Belong To Me" instead of what you heard. When I was looking for inspiration the thing that was in my heart was you. Then after talking to both you and Grace at different times I got inspired to rewrite it. It wasn't until I saw you kiss her and the song ended that I realized I had to go after you anyway," Lily confessed.

"You shouldn't have had to go through so much trouble. But I guess you had no choice once I started dating Grace."

"You're going to try and talk to her aren't you? She probably suspected something would happen like this all along but I bet when you kissed her she thought you'd sealed the deal. If a guy kissed me and less then a minute later some other girl was shouting "I Love you" to him I wouldn't take it so well. I knew she would hear me but all I was thinking when I shouted to you is that I needed to get it out."

"You know what. Just let me handle things with Grace. We should be celebrating. Haven't we waited for this long enough?"

"You're right, let's enjoy this time together."

They get off the bench and Ray slides down to sit against the wall. Lily then sits in between his legs just because now she can. She's happy that she can finally be open about her feelings for Ray after almost a year of pretending. Ray puts his arms around her and they spend time looking at the stars. They play a few games to keep themselves busy, such as picking out star formations and saying what it looks like to them, spending time together. It doesn't feel weird or awkward like they thought it might, it just feels perfect and right, just like the beautiful stars that they are looking at. What seems like a short time to them turns out to be a couple of hours and by the time Lily actually decides to look at her watch they are both already late for their parent's curfews.

Ray looks at his cell phone and notices it is turned off. Which he had done before kissing Grace earlier. He checked his voice mail and sure enough his brother was on there saying that the 'rents wanted him home.

"My brother left a message on my phone almost an hour ago saying my parents wanted me home. I'll be in so much trouble now."

Lily takes out her phone which had been turned off before she went on stage. It also has a message on it that is from her mom asking when she should expect her home and asking where she was.

"Yeah my mom left a message asking me where I was."

"We better get going then. I'll walk you home." They lived close by so Ray wouldn't have to go too far out of his way to walk Lily to her house.

"Okay."

They join their hands together once again as they make it home shortly afterward. Lily is the one that gives Ray a kiss this time, a quick and simple one before she walks up the path and into her house. Ray stands for still for a moment watching her go smiling from the kisses they had shared that night.

Ray jogs the rest of the way and as expected has to face his dad as soon as he walks in the front door of the house. There was a time when he would use the back door to sneak upstairs and try to trick his parents into thinking he had been up in his room all the time, but the days where he could get away with that were over. He hopes that Lily doesn't get in too much trouble. It doesn't really seem to matter that he's probably about to hear the famous "what it means to be a Brennan" lecture for the hundredth time, because Lily is finally his girlfriend. He says it quietly to himself as he walks up the steps to his front door and pulls out his keys.

"My girlfriend, Lily Randall."

**A/N RC14: Not so bad a start I guess. Not as smooth as I wanted it to turn out but still decent. Looking forward to your feedback.**

**A/N Morethenslightlyrfrobsessed: Please review and tell us what you think about my first joint fan fic. **


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